Sheet-feed-control apparatus



Jul 12, 1927.

A. BROADMEYER SHEET FEED CONTROL APPARATUS I5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov.5, 1924 muuuuul III III H II II II I III! 1 o r 1,635,604 July 9 7 A.BROADMEYER SHEET FEED CONTROL APPARATUS Y Filed Nov. 5, 1924 aSheets-Sheet 2 o o o Q Q co gnucnhvc.

' aZberif firvaa iz er" July 12,1927.

A. BROADMEYER SHEET FEED CONTROL APPARATUS Filed Nov. 5, 1924 sSheets-Sheet 3 I"; v gwuento'c g Patented July 12, 1927.

UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

will BROADMEYER, F HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORTO THE W. O. HIOKOK(20., OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

SEEET-FEED-CDNTROL APPARATUS.

Application filed November 8,1924. Serial No. 747,564.

or printing machines or the like, itsometimes happens that two or moresheets are simultaneously delivered by reason of the fact that staticelectricity or other conditions will cause the sheets to stick together,and usually one is slightly behind the other, causing an elongation thatcreates serious difiiculty in the apparatus, to which these sheets aredelivered.

The object of the present invention is to provide means that willeffectively stop the sheets before their final delivery, andincidentally will also stop the further feed of the sheets until theapparatus has been cleared.

0 An embodiment of the invention that is at present considered thepreferable one, is

illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a viewpartly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of the feedingmeans showing the improved control mechanism thereon,

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, Figure 3 is a horizontal sectionalview through the controlling valve and its operating mechanism,

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of the I thickness-detectingdevice,

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the suction feeder takensubstantially on the line 5-5 -of' Figure 1,

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 5,

Figure 7 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 7'-7 of Figure 6Figure 8 is a detail view showing the adjustable mounting forthe'thickness detector.

In the embodiment disclosed a supporting table 9 is provided for a pileof sheets 10, the table being automatically elevated as the sheets arefed therefrom in any manner well understood to those skilled in the art.A conveyor is provided at the delivery end of the plle, said conveyor,in the present instance, includin a series of rollers 11, and saidrollers dehvering to the folding machine or other apparatus thatoperates on the sheets.

For the purpose of feeding the sheets from the pile 10, a'suction deviceis employed, consisting of a roller 12 mounted on a. swinging arm 13,and adapted to elevate the topmost sheet of the pile and move it towardtheconveyor. This device may be of the type disclosed in my Patent No.1,494,303, issued May 13, 1924. The roller 12 as therein disclosedcomprises rows of intake ports 14 opening into longitudinal bores 15that have communication through ports 16 with other longitudinal bores17, the bores 15 and 17 opening through one end of the said roller. Theroller is mounted on a driving shaft 18 and'has at the end through whichthe ports 15 and 17 open, a hub 19 that is journaled in a head 20. Thishead 20 is provided with an inlet port 21 in line with the path ofmovement of the open ends of the bores 17, so that as the head rotates,the bores successively come into communication with'said port 21 atwhich time the openend of the corresponding bore 15 is closed, as shownin Figure 5, so that communication through the port 21 is establishedwith the position where such communication is cut- 1 One or morepneumatic stops is provided between certain of the rollers 11 of theconveyor. These stops consist of heads 29 having their u per surfacessubstantially on a level with t e upper-faces of the rollers, and eachhead havin one or more inlet ports 30. Extending rom said heads andcommunicating with the ports 30 are branch pipes 31 leading to a conduit32 that extends to an upstanding nipple 33 mounted on the rear portionof the head 20 and in communication with a port 34 openin into the topof the valve chamber 22, as s own in Figure 7. Another port 35 afiordscommunication between the valve chamber 22 i and the passageway 23, theports 34 and. 35

sition to afford combe evident by reference to Figure 3. Thereciprocatory valve 27 has an angular port 36, which as shown in Figure7, is movable to a position to afford communication between the ports 34and 35, and as will be evident by reference to Figure 3, is so situatedwith respect to the port 28 that when said port 28 establishescommunication with the ports 21 and 26, the ports 34 and 35 will be outofcommunication. Vice versa, when the ports 34 and 35 are incommunication through the port 36, then the ports 21 and 26 will be outof communication.

Pivotally mounted on the arm 13 at 37 is a lever 38, one arm 39 of whichis interposed between a 3 ring 40 and an adjusting screw 41. The ot erarm of this lever has journaled therein a rock shaft 42 to which isfixed an arm 43 connected by a link 44 with the valve 27. The arm 43which extends on the op osite side of the said connection is forme intoa handle 45. The rock shaft 42 has journaled thereon a roller 46, andalongside said. roller there is fixed to said rock shaft a thicknessdetector in the form of a curved segment 47 This segment is locateddirectly over a roller 48 over which the sheets 10 pass, as will beclear by reference to Figure 4, said sheets thus moving between saidroller 48 and the thickness detector 47. 1

With this construction the thickness detector 47 is adjusted asuflicient distance away from the roller 48, so that a single sheet willpass between the two without engaging or moving the se ent 47, but iftwo sheets ha pen to simlfiiiimeously pass between said rol er andsegment sufficient friction will be caused by the upper sheet againstthe segment 47 to swin said segment. As a consequence the roc shaft 42will be turned, the arm 43 will be swung and through the link 44 thevalve 27 will be moved. Now the normal position of the ports is suchthat the valve 27 is in the position illustrated in Figure 3, in whichcase the suction of the pump '25 will be through the ports 26, 28 and21.

Consequently as the suction feed device rotates, air Wlll be drawn intothe lowermost set of ports 14 and the sheets thus picked up from thepile 10 and moved over the roller 48 on to the conveyor. As alreadexplained when the said ports 26, 28, an 21 are in register, the ports34, 35 and 36 are out of communication. The feeding roller 12 will thusoperate normally until after it has picked up simultaneously two or moresheets and delivered them between the roller 48 and the thicknessdetector 47. Whenthis takes place the thickness detector swln s, causingthe valve 27 to be shifted from tie position shown in Figure 3 to theosition illustrated in Figure 7, at which time the suction through thefeed roller will be cut off, but said suction willbe shifted to theconduit 33, 32, 31, and thus indrafts of air will take place through theports 30 of the heads 29. Consequently if the multiple sheets havegotten to a point where they will be moved by the conveyor rollers 11,said sheets will pass over the heads 29 and immediately caused to adherethereto b sheets will thus be stoppe and will not pass on into theapparatus that would otherwise operate on them. Obviously these sheetscan be easily removed from the conveyor, whereupon the operator has onlyto swin the handle 45 back to its initial position as shown in Figure 1,whereupon the apparatus again begins to operate normally and willcontmue said operation until a plurality of sheets are again picked upand fed by the rollers 12.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation andmany advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art, without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minordetails of construction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What I claim, is:

1. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a conveyor forreceiving sheets at one end, transporting the sheets and delivering themfrom the opposite end, of a suction head located between said ends andtraversed b the sheets carried by the conveyor, an means for creatingsuction through the head to cause the sheets to adhere thereto and beheld from movement by the conveyor.

2. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a conveyor, ofpneumatic sheet holdin device associated therewith for stopping sheetscarried by the conveyor, and a sheet thickness determining devicecontrolling the operation of the holding device.

the suction. The

3. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combif nation with a conveyor, of apneumatic sheet holdin device associated therewith for stopping s eetscarried by the conveyor, and a sheet thickness determinin device mountedat the receiving end of t e conveyor and operated by an excessive numberof sheets simultaneously passing thereto, said thickness determinindevice constitutin means forcontrolling t e operation of the oldingdevice.

4. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combi nation with a conveyor forreceiving sheets at one end, transporting the sheets and delivering themfrom the opposite end, of a suction head located between the said endsand traversed by the sheets carried by the conveyor, means for creatingsuction through the head to cause the sheets to adhere thereto and beheld from movement by the conve or, a valve controlling the suction, anda thlckness determining device at the receiving end of the conveyorconnected to the valve for actuating it and operated by an excessive holmg the-sheets against movement by' the conveyor, and means for shiftingsuch power from the means that delivers it to the feeding device to themeans that delivers it to the stop to make the feeding device inactiveand to'cause the stop to operate on and stop the sheets fed by thefeeding device.

nation with a sheet conveyor, of a pneumatic device for feeding sheetsto the conveyor, a

, pneumatic stop for the sheets carried by the conveyor, and means forcausing the feeding to normally operate and the stop tobe normallyinactive and for causin the feeding device to becomeinactive and t estop to become active.

7. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a sheetconveyor, ofa pneumatic device for feeding. sheets to, the conveyor, 0.

pneumatic stop for the sheets carried by the v sive number of sheets fedby the conveyor and means controlled by eeding device for causing thefeeding device to become inactive and the stop to become active.

I 8. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a sheet conveyor,of a pneumatically' actuated device for feeding sheets to the conveyor,a pneumatically operated stopfor the sheets already fed to and beingcarried by. the conveyor, an air pump having communication both with thefeedingidevice and stop device, and a valve that controls suchcommunication.

9. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combi nation with a sheet conveyor,of a-pneumatically "operated device for feeding sheets to the conveyor,a pneumatically operated stop for the sheets carried by the conveyor, anair pump having communlcation both with the movab e to one cationbetween t feedin device and stop device, and a valve position to affordcommunie pump and feeding device and cut off communication between thepump 6. In sheet feeding'apparatus, the combi-.

an exces and stop device, said valve being movable to another positionto afford communication between the pump and stop device and cut oflcommunication between the pump and feeding device. Y

10. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a sheet conveyor,of a' device for feeding sheets to the conveyor, a stop for the sheetscarried by the conve or, an air pump having communication bot with thefeeding device and stop device, a valve movable to one osition to affordcommunication between t e pump and feeding device and cut of!communication between the pump and stop device, said valve beingmovableto another position to afford communication between the pump andstop device andcut off communication between the pump and feedingdevice, and a device actuated by an excessive number of sheets formoving the valve. I

11. In sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a Sheet conveyor,of a suction head for feedingsheets successively to the "conveyor, asuction stop head associated with the conveyor and adapted to act on thesheets moved by the conveyor to hold'said sheets,-

.12. In a sheet feeding apparatus, the combination with a sheetconveyor, of 'a'suction head for feeding sheets successively to the-conveyor,a suction stop head associated with the conveyor and adaptedto acton the sheets moved by the conveyor to hold said sheets, a

suction pump, an intake conduit for the 1 pump, a valve casing to whichthe conduit is connected, branch conduits from the valve .casing leadingrespectively to the feeding head and stop head, a valve in the casingmovable to positions that afford communication between the conduit andeither branch, and a thickness detectingmember between the feedingdevice and conveyor and actuated by an excessive number of sheets movedby the former, said device being connected to the valve to operate it.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my slgnature.

ALBERT BROADMEYER.

